Peer Reviewed

- Prof. Hyuk-Jun Kwon’s research team presents a roadmap for an intelligent artificial olfactory system that combines the novel material metal-organic frameworks with AI - Overcomes existing limitations by mimicking the principles of the human olfactory system, poised to drive innovation across future industries such as disease diagnosis and environmental monitoring - Published in Progress in Materials Science, one of the world’s leading journals in materials science (top 0.7% in JCR)

Research comparing Dunlop and Talalay processing offers practical guidance for better natural latex foam products.

Fly ash waste could partly replace zinc oxide in tyre tread rubber, reducing zinc release while maintaining key performance.

Catalysts are everywhere—from fertilizer production to clean energy—but making them more active without sacrificing stability has remained a major challenge. Researchers have now engineered a gold-platinum nanocluster catalyst that can be activated at lower temperatures while maintaining its precise atomic structure, boosting low-temperature carbon monoxide oxidation performance. Yet a clever ligand design could pave the way for more efficient and durable catalysts.

Complete tumor remission and suppression of recurrence/metastasis demonstrated in animal models of triple-negative breast cancer and colorectal cancer

A study shows palm oil can replace aromatic oil in natural rubber composites while supporting greener rubber products.

This work reveals how lithium migrates in solid-state batteries and shows that fast charging can cause irreversible lithium migration.

A mild enzymatic method helps refine algae oil for nutrition products while preserving its valuable nutritional components

Research led by the Singapore University of Technology and Design finds that comfort in Singapore homes depends not only on air-conditioning and building design, but also on airflow, daily routines and how families share their living spaces.

Researchers have developed a robotic platform that identifies Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria through touch-based electrical signals, without staining or chemical labels. Selected as a cover article in Nano Energy, the study achieved rapid classification within 0.62 seconds and 90.93% accuracy.

An AI assistant for high-entropy alloy (HEA) electrocatalysis named ChatHEA provided a helping hand not just to extract data from the literature, but provide suggestions for promising catalysts, design experiments, and analyze data.

Pineapple leaf fibres gain strength through alkali treatment, supporting stronger and more sustainable biobased composites.

Researchers at The University of Osaka have developed an improved technique called “tapping-mode scanning probe electrospray ionization” (t-SPESI), allowing the analysis of regions within individual cells with greater sensitivity and stability. Through device miniaturization and molecular modification of the probe surface, the team achieved higher sensitivity and long-term stability, successfully visualizing lipid distributions in mouse brain tissue at a pixel size of 5 µm.

Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI) at Kanazawa University, Institute for Molecular Science and SOKENDAI have uncovered the hidden mechanism behind a molecular switch—a molecule that can change between different structural states in response to a chemical signal. Their study, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, reveals how molecules can gradually switch between alternative states, a process that could help scientists design future molecular machines, smart materials, and molecular information technologies. To make the discovery, Shigehisa Akine and colleagues created a specially designed molecular cage that changes shape unusually slowly. This allowed them to observe, for the first time, the sequence of molecular events that occurs after the molecule receives a chemical input. The study provides one of the clearest views yet of how molecular recognition triggers structural change and demonstrates that the response speed of a molecular system can itself be engineered through molecular design.

Researchers break a fundamental rule to create a new concept: heat that can be directed and “programmed”. In most materials, heat absorption and heat emission are linked, meaning a surface that absorbs thermal radiation well from a particular direction will also emit it in the same way. A team from OMU in Japan has designed a reconfigurable device that breaks this symmetry, enabling heat to be absorbed and emitted differently depending on the direction of absorption. This technology could eventually lead to smarter thermal-management systems and infrared sensors.

Researchers at the University of Osaka developed a light-driven method for synthesizing Davis reagents that generates the hazardous oxidant mCPBA only on demand and consumes it immediately. Kinetic analysis showed no detectable accumulation of the oxidant, improving process safety. The reaction proceeds at room temperature in non-halogenated solvents and can use sunlight or LEDs, offering a safer, greener, and scalable alternative for pharmaceutical-related synthesis.

Hiroshima University researchers have demonstrated a proof of concept for the mass-production of genome-edited T cells that can be used to treat malignant tumors, using a genetic engineering technique called Platinum TALEN.

Researchers at the University of Osaka have used machine learning to develop a systematic framework for structural descriptors in supercooled water. A neural network model was used to quantitatively assess the performance of 16 structural descriptors in differentiating between two states of water, a high-density liquid and a low-density liquid. The framework could be used to further our understanding of the anomalous behavior of water.

Researchers from the University of Osaka found that the human brain represents social relationships learned through drama viewing, especially antagonistic ties. Participants watched six episodes of SUITS and underwent fMRI scans before and after viewing. Brain activity patterns after viewing reflected rivalries and conflicts among characters, particularly in regions involved in social cognition. The findings suggest that negative relationships help structure the brain’s internal social maps.

Researchers at Tohoku University have discovered a promising strategy that converts harmful carbon dioxide into valuable fuels and chemicals by precisely altering nanoclusters made of copper.

The abundance of sulfur not only makes lithium-sulfur batteries cheaper to manufacture, but they also boast superior energy-storage capacity to current lithium-ion technologies. But one problem preventing practical deployment is polysulfide shuttling—when polysulfides formed during battery cycling escape the cathode and drift into unwanted areas and cause the battery to erode. Now, a group of researchers from Tohoku University has solved this problem with a molecularly designed covalent organic framework (COF)–graphene interlayer. Like a security checkpoint that both identifies threats and efficiently streams people where they need to go, the interlayer combines chemical trapping, rapid charge transport, and sulfur-conversion promotion.

Magnets can store data – but there is a limit. To improve the data density of memory devices, researchers at Tohoku University delved into ways to exert precise control over a unique material called metallic helimagnets.

Researchers at National Taiwan University and the University of Southern Denmark show that obesity in male mice raises let-7 microRNAs in sperm, which silence the enzyme DICER1 and impair mitochondrial function in the fat tissue of their offspring. Weight loss reverses part of the effect in both mice and men.

An international team including Professor Meng GU of the Hong Kong Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics (HKIAA) at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has directly measured the mass of an inactive supermassive black hole in the early Universe for the first time.

A research team from City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) has recently overcome a technological bottleneck that has persisted for over a decade. They successfully “turned waste into treasure” by recycling triplet excitons and converting them into effective charge carriers for electricity generation. Using this new approach, they achieved an efficiency of 20.5% in OPV cells.

- Prof. Hyosang Lee’s research team identifies the dual role of the TWIK-1 potassium ion channel in the spinal cord and peripheral sensory neurons, suggesting the potential for the treatment of neuropathic pain - Published in the international journal Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy

Invasive Flowerhorn cichlids threaten Lake Sampaloc’s native fish, aquaculture, and public health, Ateneo researchers warn.

A new conceptual review by researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and James Cook University, Singapore, suggests that stress, loneliness and constant comparison may be linked to a mismatch between human instincts and modern environments.

How did a large crab end up trapped inside a plastic bottle with an opening smaller than its body? Hiroshima University researchers investigated this unusual marine mystery, revealing a lesser-known impact of marine plastic pollution on crustaceans.

Oxidative addition is often carried out using transition metals and is challenging to perform at centers of more abundant main-group elements, particularly group 13 elements. Researchers at The University of Osaka, led by Takuya Kodama, achieved oxidative addition of an aryl iodide to a group 13 (gallium) center. The reaction is initiated by visible light. The reaction proceeds via a novel mechanism, photoinduced disproportionation, whereby photoexcited gallium exchanges electrons with ground-state gallium.